College Students Involved in Party That Led to Mass Overdose Could Be Expelled

The students involved in an off-campus party in Washington state that resulted in 12 young people suffering possible overdoses of a date-rape drug may face expulsion for violating the university's code of conduct.

Authorities today were trying to determine who organized the party that may have been part of a larger date-rape scheme. As many as 50 students attended the Roslyn, Wash., party that occurred 30 miles away from Central Washington University, where many of the partygoers are students, according to Rosyln-Cle Elum police.

But what began as a typical college party soon spiraled out of control when 12 students -- most of whom are believed to be female -- were rushed to the hospital after suffering apparent overdoses.

Now police and university officials are meeting to determine how to proceed with interviewing the students who attended the party.

"Central University has a student conduct code that students are held to no matter where they are in the world," said Linda Schactler, the director of public affairs at the university.

"What we are going to do is talk to each student and there might be repercussions," said Schactler. "If they were underage and they were drinking that's against state law and university policy."

Students' punishments could range from mandatory alcohol education class to suspension or expulsion, according to Schactler.

Roslyn-Cle Elum Police Chief Scott Ferguson told ABC News that there were no new updates on the investigation today, but said that officials are still working to determine who threw the party and why drugs were involved.

"We suspect that again that these drugs were introduced to these students," Ferguson said earlier this weekend. "Probably without their knowledge."

"Many of the victims are women and police want to know if they were targeted specifically," said Ferguson.

Toxicology reports aren't expected to be returned from the state's crime lab for weeks.

Twelve Students Overdose at Off-Campus Party in Washington State

Students who attended the party but did not fall victim to the apparent use of "roofies," the street term for the powerful date-rape drug Rohypnol, said they saw girls at the party grow violently ill over the course of the evening.

"Everything was going fine," said Central University freshman Katelynn Allen, who was at the party. "The music was playing, people were having fun."

"And then all of a sudden, all the girls were puking everywhere," she said. "Girls were outside like on their back and people were so drunk they didn't know what to do."

Chris Unger, another freshman, said people kept warning others not to drink the alcohol offered at the house.

"They all had red cups, people were saying, 'Don't drink out of the red cups, don't drink out of the red cups,'" said Unger.

Police responded to the party after receiving a 911 call about one of the victims, a young woman, who fell unconscious, according to ABC News' Seattle affiliate KOMO-TV.

Forced to knock down the door of the home when nobody responded, authorities found students in varying states of consciousness, one young man allegedly having sex with a girl who was semiconscious and who was later determined to be his girlfriend, according to police.

"The house was packed with people. We found people passed out, incoherent, of all different levels of intoxication ... (some) in need of medical attention," Cle Elum Sgt. Monty Moore told KOMO. "There was vomit everywhere, inside and out."

In the basement, some of those who were sober had tried to help others by putting them on beds, couches or mattresses, said Moore. Some crawled into the bathtub and covered themselves with plywood, others crawled into the attic and hid in insulation, Moore said.